A lot of 0-2 teams - the Patriots, Chargers, Bengals, Texans, and Cardinals - showed how dangerous Week 3 can be as those teams definitely played with a little bit of desperation. Lot of season left, but dropping to 0-3 is almost dooming the rest of your season.
San Francisco 30, NY Giants 12
Scores have a funny way of telling the story of a game. The Giants played very tough against in the Niners' home opener. Seemed like they played with a chip on their shoulder. They got in the Niners' faces a lot and were quite chirpy (which got under Trent Williams' skin on a first-half kneel down). Yet the Niners just simply outplayed them almost the entire game. The first-half score made the game feel closer than it was, yet the final score somehow makes it seem like a bigger blowout than it was. San Francisco certainly lucked out that Saquan Barkley did not play.
Brock Purdy made two throws that convinced me he has something that past Niners quarterbacks just didn't have. He threw a dart to rookie Ronnie Bell on an out route near the goal line and sideline in the face of an unblocked blitz, and the ball was perfectly timed and thrown. Late in the game, he threw an absolute dart to Deebo Samule for a long touchdown connection, signaling that he has gotten better at making throws to give the receivers a chance to make a play while they're covered.
Miami 70, Denver 20
Hang on, I think the Dolphins just scored again...wow, what a way to strike fear into the rest of the NFL, huh? Putting up 70 points is an insane accomplishment, but the scariest thing about Miami is it doesn't feel like that wild of an outlier. The Dolphins certainly have the scariest offense in the league right now (they scored 70 points without Jaylen Waddle!), but there's still a lot of season left. To my eyes, defenses tend to get better as the season goes, more so than offenses do. Denver is a hot mess, too; better defenses won't give up that many huge runs. And Tua may have had a personal vendetta against Sean Payton and the comments that probably served as bulletin material for him. It sounds stupid to say, because Miami is absolutely one of the best teams in the league, but they're facing a much tougher foe in Buffalo in Week 4, so let's see if they can repeat that sort of success. Still, watching a game where literally any player could score on any given play is a fun experience.
Speaking of hot messes, Denver plays Chicago in Week 4. Beating teams like Chicago really doesn't mean much right now, does it? I wouldn't be surprised to see Denver play for pride next week and keep the Bears winless. Besides, playing against Justin Fields will help make any defense look right. I predict a win for Denver.
Philadelphia 25, Tampa Bay 11 (MNF)
The reigning NFC-champion Eagles are still good. Jalen Hurts definitely is one of the strongest dual-threat quarterbacks in recent years. What makes me worry that he will be more successful than great dual-threat QBs in the past is how the Eagles protect Hurts with the system they've built around him. Hurts isn't going to dissect a defense and throw all over the field (Philly averages 213 passing yards per game so far this season). Hurts rarely needs to make reads. He'll throw short passes out to the flank or in the flat. He'll make easy throws to AJ Brown and let him do the work. Or once in a while, Hurts will throw deep. But it's not like he's all that accurate, and instead of sitting back and reading the defense consistently, he'll just move around and take off. It'll be interesting to see if tougher defenses (Cowboys and Niners) make that a little more difficult to pull off. Of course, the Eagles scored a ton of points against those two teams last year, so maybe they really are that good.
The rain certainly helped the Eagles more than the Bucs. Mayfield didn't handle several passes well and even gave away a couple of possessions on dumb throws. The Eagles are equipped to run the ball well and dominate time of possession, which they did.
Cincinnati 19, Los Angeles 16
Will Sean McVay end up on the hot seat at the end of the year? He mortgaged the team's future assets and narrowly did just enough to win a Super Bowl ring, but his team seems nothing like that now. Sure, most offenses that lose a player like Cooper Kupp will slow down, but they just lost to an ailing Bengals team with a hobbled Joe Burrow. If the Rams don't stay competitive for a playoff spot this year, I wouldn't be surprised if the Rams move on from him. There was already chatter last offseason that he would call its quits before getting convinced to come back. Maybe he'll ride out the careers of Matt Stafford and Aaron Donald before jumping ship.
In the Rams' defense, it was the Bengals' defense that rose to the occasion. Cincinnati usually has a low-key good defense, and once that unit gets back to form, the Bengals could still compete for a playoff spot. The 0-2 Bengals were desperate for a win, so I suppose it's not too surprising.
Arizona 28, Dallas 16
The Cardinals were laughed at all offseason, and everyone keeps talking about them tanking for the No. 1 pick next year. Meanwhile, everyone is already putting Dallas in the Super Bowl, or at least the NFC championship against Philadelphia. Yet here was a stinker of a game by the Cowboys. Micah Parsons got a sack, sure, but the defense struggled to contain...Josh Dobbs (had to go look up his name) and the Cardinals' running game and gave up a couple of big pass plays in crucial situations. Losing Trevon Diggs certainly hurts, but it's not like he was the face of the run defense. I don't know enough about Dallas' defense to know if Dan Smith adjusted his schemes and playcalling in his absence.
Still, this one feels more like an outlier than a sign of things to come. Dallas will be fine. Maybe Arizona is actually good. If not for freakish late-game collapses, they would be 3-0 right now going into their game at San Francisco this week. The Niners should be worried for sure.
Cleveland 27, Tennessee 3
Wow, didn't expect that dominant a win from a Nick Chubb-less Browns team. DeShaun Watson still makes some bone-headed plays, but he turned in his most complete game for the Browns this season. And they needed it. He was 27-of-33 for 289 yards and two touchdowns on a day when the Browns finished with just 78 rushing yards. The more telling development here is the defense. Derrick Henry finishing with a mere 20 yards? Tannehill sacked five times? Jim Schwartz has that defense playing well.
Los Angeles Chargers 28, Minnesota 24
I don't even think the Vikings' problems are on Kirk Cousins, but I also wouldn't be surprised if this is the last year he's a Viking. His luck in close games last year seems to have worn off quickly. It's a tough break when a game-winning drive comes up empty because a receiver drops a ball "up" into the air to allow the defense to pick it off. But maybe Cousins shouldn't have made that throw in the first place. T.J. Hockenson was draped, not even close to being open, and the ball was way late. I put that loss on Cousins.
I got the sense that Alexander Mattison took the hint when the Vikings acquired Cam Akers last week; Mattison rushed for 90 yards on 20 carries after a lackluster start to the season. Justin Jefferson had his usual high-caliber stat line - 7 rec., 129 yds, 1 TD - but he was targeted 13 times. I wonder if the Vikings are in a tough spot where they have to please their star receiver and feed him the ball probably more than should be. Cousins' 50 pass attempts are alarming, even in a close, back-and-forth game against the usually high-scoring Chargers.
Speaking of targets, Keenan Allen sure became the focal for L.A., who already had to play without stud running back Austin Ekeler (looks like his offseason comments jinxed himself). Allen finished with 18 grabs on 20 targets. I would not assume he will get that many targets every week now that Mike Williams is out for the season. The Chargers will need to get other guys into the game plan. It'll be interesting to see how often Justin Herbert targets Allen, who will be his most sure-handed receiver but will also be the No. 1 priority for defenses.
Other notes:
-The Colts over the Ravens? Really? Oh, and the Colts (2-1) are in first place while the rest of the AFC South is 1-2.
-Green Bay had a nice comeback win, but it was largely due to Derek Carr's injury.
-I've been singing the Commanders' offense the first two weeks, so it's only fair that I call them out when they struggle. Sure, the Bills are good, but Sam Howell was not ready for that. They're going to have some inconsistency for a little while (especially at Philly next week).
-The Jaguars are proving that beating them doesn't mean anything, either. Houston finally got one for DeMeco Ryans, but they actually dominated that game. Wonder if they can get some momentum off that or if it was more of a desperation win to avoid 0-3.
